Most Surprising Album?

[Imperial States of Duotona]

What album did you go into not expecting much but walked out of it being amazed by what you heard? Maybe you heard bad reviews but you personally went against the critics consensus. Maybe it's from a genre that you weren't particularly a fan of, but it impressed you or even made you a fan. Any reason is allowed.

For me, the album has to be Wanderlust by The Quick Brown Fox. I was never a fan of speedcore before this album, with the most I'd ever heard from the genre being The Big Black (by the same artist). I just saw it as fast and loud music only crafted to make ridiculously hard charts in rhythm games. And then I heard this by complete chance.
One of the best misclicks I've ever made.
Despite following the average speedcore format of blazing drum breaks and utter chaotic sections, this album in particular shows emotion where few other similar artists do. My favourite track has to be the title track, which has those incredibly chaotic sections which I soon came to love, followed by pixelated interludes which have so much charm and drag me back to 2012 when the album released. I then went back to the track I initially dismissed earlier and realised it had the same type of energy, but just evil.

who would've thought some of the best music I discovered this year will be released by an artist with the persona of a piñata furry

[Imperial States of Duotona]

/bump

Also, if you wanna listen to the album I mentioned in the OP, it is here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Vd9MU3vhp20

[Rick Perry]

I was genuinely super surprised at how good this album turned out.https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... O_jM5AY6tx

[Cadonica]

Slayer's last album, Repentless, comes to mind. I liked their first two albums, wasn't too impressed with the rest but then Repentless was on par with the first two. At least for me
Another case that comes to mind are Pantera's first four albums. Of course I was a little surprised to learn that Cowboys from Hell wasn't Pantera's debut album but I was even more surprised by how good their glam era was. I actually prefer it to their "true" stuff

And of course since "Most Surprising Album" can go both ways, I was surprised by how poor Mayhem's Grand Declaration of War was, especially when you consider how legendary De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas is.

I could probably come with way more examples but that'll suffice for now-

[Mun Slleackst]

Kid A - Radiohead
Never got into the IBM/Electronic music scene but I don’t know what it is but I love this album with a passion. The National Anthem & Idioteque are some of the best songs of Radiohead’s entire career. I felt disappointed with Hail To The Thief when I listened to it & I excepted to not like this one but I was really surprised.

[GENSOC]

Harakiri for the Sky's Aokigahara
Heard bad things, was treated to an absolutely amazing album tainted by an unbelievably awful cover of Mad World in the middle.